Also, thanks to those interested to donate. Once I get the confirmation on payments, I will increase the prizes accordingly. My goal is:

1st - 400 $2nd - 150 $3rd - 50 $

If I fill this quota, all future donations will be transferred to the next competition.

Thanks once more.

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"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

I'll try to post at weekly updates.Sooo I've finished the basics behind world and climate generation. Now I'm working on client/server connections, and the next step is to let admin (localhost) clients control the server.

Right now I'm trying to make a multiplayer tile/turn-based 4x (like civ) game with a little bit of influence from minecraft and freeciv. Winning will be by last-man standing or by completing some objectives, but I haven't really given them much thought yet. The seasons change as turns go by (eg a year is something like 60 turns), and the climate+seasons determine things like farm efficiency and 'mob' spawn rates. But nothing is set in stone yet, so I'll see where it all goes.

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Never underestimate the destructive powers of somebody doing something new without having any clue of how to do it.

Your game sounds interesting Mitchell, hopefully there will be a single player mode too!

At the moment my entry will probably be a platform/puzzler. The idea is that the environment changes as you jump between seasons to complete a task. E.g.

* Get a bucket of water in autumn, jump to winter and you have a bucket with an ice block you can use to step on.* Seeds can be planted in spring/summer to give ladders in summer/autumn but die off in winter.* Bushes are spikey in spring, on fire in summer and snow covered in winter.

Not decided whether the seasons change due to a time jump (forward/back 3 months - complex due to enemy movement) or by magic (so only the level gets effected - which would be much easier to do!)

This is all subject to change though, i will throw together a prototype and see if this is even fun! I've not decided a lot of the technical bits yet (side on/top down, single or multiple screen).

Mitchell: Sounds interesting, and as ssjx said, I hope there will be a single player mode to =)

ssjx: Sounds like a great idea

I have finally started my own project to day. Though I don't think my idea is as good as yours, because its more like game wrapped in different seasons, then about seasons But its better then not making anything. I'm thinking of making something like Gun Smoke(a old NES game) but out in nature/forest and with magic. It will probably be four levels, one for each season, and the mission will be to stop evil and prevent eternal winter.. The main enemy is something similar to the Others in the Saga of Fire and Ice books(if anyone has read those books by George R.R. Martin) that are bringing with them an unnatural winter. I'm hoping to have a different spell/attack sort of taking power from the current season, but this is still all just ramblings from a crazy guy

Interesting to hear your plans, guys. Looking forward to seeing it all in action.

ssjx, that are some clever ideas. Build/place stuff that can be exploited in another season. Cool. Hope it can be wrapped into challenging gameplay. An idea - how about single screen puzzle-based levels before scrolling platformer type of levels? Just a thought.

s0tsvart, that sounds rather cool. I think using the seasons only as a backdrop can be effective as well, if you approach it smart, graphical design-wise. I just hope you have the skill and experience in delivering above average visuals. You game sounds demanding in that department.

Mitchell, I hope you are experienced in programming network games, because breaking some programming grounds (on a personal level) in these sort of competitions is not the luckiest choice. I also hope you will consider adding a single player mode, or at least be very available to test the game with me once it's done.

« Last Edit: December 03, 2012, 03:36:26 AM by Lachie Dazdarian »

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"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

I think I would personally took a crack at some survival, food growing game. Gardening maybe. Or maybe some RPG about passage of time. Each seasons represents main characters part of life. Spring - childhood, Summer - adulthood, etc.

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"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist

Perhaps a food growing game where plants are composed of Voxel cells that grow according to a trait program that is able to use genetic algorithms to adapt different plants to different seasons and allow the player artificial selection of preferred traits. Then again, I'm not sure what the player's goal would be in such a game. Perhaps have a series of achievements for obtaining big plants, high yielding plants, etc..